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HAO

The long anticipated HAO L119A2 Upper has been released, and Rich at The Reptile House was provided a Beta release of the upper to test and review, which has provided a slew of fascinating articles. Check them out below:

I first blogged about the HAO L119A2 upper some time ago, and I’m pleased to see it released, I know many who had been eagerly awaiting it. From the photos and articles pertaining to it, it looks an excellent product, and certainly one which would interest me greatly were it for a platform I used – PTW owners have something special here.

There’s a number of very minor discrepancies with the upper, contrary to assertions made on other reviews (not TRH), although nothing critical which cannot be tweaked. I know the Angry Gun rail likewise has a number of small inaccuracies.

Ultimately, comparisons will always be drawn, but both products had different appeals, design intents and markets, and do their respective jobs admirably. While a huge fan of what Angry Gun launched onto the L119A2 fandom market a year ago, as a designer I am likewise hugely impressed by what HAO have done here, it looks stunning. Ultimately more attention to the replica L119 market is always a good thing, especially when it is as good looking as this. It’s going to be interesting too seeing Rich’s build develop.

For anyone who follows high end airsoft builds, HAO will need little introduction. They are a Taiwanese airsoft company who specialise primarily in parts for the Systema PTW platform, but who are increasingly providing for a wider range.

The airsoft company appears to be an offshoot side interest for a larger commercial entity, and as such HAOs product range is somewhat eclectic, and appears to be driven by the interests of those working there. HAO are also far from prolific, with only a handful of products, and very long development times for products.

What HAO do have is a likely unsurpassed adherence to quality and exactitude in replicating real items. They fill a niche in the market for high end gear to fulfil particular interests.

I do not own any HAO products myself, a combination of the fact that as yet, much of their catalogue hasn’t overlapped with the sort of projects I embark on, and secondly, where they do, the prices are substantial. While I haven’t yet bought any of their products, The Reptile House Blog has covered HAO extensively with first hand reviews of their products and insight into their production processes. The details on ‘TRH Blog article on HAO’s new SOCOM suppressors is particularly interesting.

Until a year or so ago HAO had been on my radar as a company who produced great items which features on several builds I admired, but little more. However after L119A2 pictures became public in May 2016, and I was approaching various airsoft manufacturers to drum up interest in an A2 style rail, a process which eventually culminated in the release of the Angry Gun L119A2 rail, I became aware HAO were also interested in making an A2 rail. I contacted them and they confirmed it was in the works, and I sent a batch of reference photos, however my contact with HAO has been significantly less involved than my discussions with Angry Gun. HAO have on occasion teased progress on the L119 Owners Club Facebook group and I have spoken with them every so often to try and glean a little more.

HAO apparently have acquired one of the L119A2 overrun uppers which were released to civilians to work off. The key difference however between the Angry Gun and HAO L119A2 products is that the Angry Gun is produced as a rail to be fitted to a standard airsoft upper, while HAO are looking to produce an entire monolithic upper, as per the real weapon.

Angry Gun’s approach, with a clever and solid concealed attachment system, vastly increased versatility, catered for pretty much every platform on the market, and cut costs dramatically. HAOs conversely will be made for only a couple of platforms, namely PTW and GBBR (there is talk of a third, although this would apparently come later). This approach also means a HAO L119A2 upper will be substantially more expensive, and presumably will need to include barrel, barrel nut, gas assembly, and also potentially wrenches etc for actually taking apart the monolithic upper. Various discussions with interested A2 fans have produced a variety of guesses as to the eventual cost of the setup. I don’t think until things firm up, HAO even know at this stage, but it is likely to have a price tag to match the undoubted quality.

One final point to note, is that a monolithic upper may preclude production of the 15.7in variant due to the size of the machines used in production. This was a possibility which was raised early on, although after a long stretch of product development I am unsure if it was still the case.

I will publish further articles if and when I learn more on the project to try and keep people abreast of L119 developments.